Food Train (Three Courses)

This is a post about food, catering, fine dining, and trains. For those of you old enough to remember, the “British Rail sandwich” was a thing of legend – not good. It wasn’t always like that.

This is the dining room of Le Train Bleu at the Gare de Lyon, Paris. It’s one of the greatestBelle Epoque interiors that survives. Maybe only the Paris Opera is better…

I’ve posted about French restaurants and railway stations before, here

http://areopagitica.blog.co.uk/2011/04/18/steak-frites-11021581/

One of the great pleasure of trains in France is the high quality of the restaurants and hotels that you find around railway stations. At Gare du Nord, for example, there is the amazing Terminus Nord. This is a classic brasserie style restaurant. That means you can eat at any time during the day. The menu usually comprises the classic selections of shell fish, grilled meats and sauerkraut and desserts.

This is a brochure produced by SNCF (French Railways) in 1954. It advertised all their main-line station buffets. Great store is placed on the regional specialities and a handy map is provided which shows the kinds of produce which can be anticipated.

Anone who has travelled around France will be familiar with this. The good news is that the redevelopment of St Pancras in london now includes a number of excellent restaurants. The new King’s Cross station will also have an improved food offer. That’s certainly an improvement on the usual fast-food outlets and fried chicken shops that you get around UK stations.

Here’s a picture of me about to tuck in to lunch in Paris. This is roast bone marrow at the Europeen, opposite the Gare de Lyon. You can check out the menu, here

http://www.brasserie-leuropeen.fr/bewax/fr/home.html

You can check out Terminus Nord, here

http://www.terminusnord.com/carte/

Both of the excellent restaurants are part of larger groups…Bon appetit.